Arroyo visit to Merci shows 'dark politics'

No doubt Philippine authorities erred big in the Luneta hostage taking by a disgruntled ex-cop last August. Crowd control arrived too late to cordon off interlopers; negotiators were rusty, SWAT rescuers ill equipped, and command chains broken. To begin with, bus-hijacking Officer Rolando Mendoza had a service pistol that superiors should have retrieved when he was discharged seven months earlier. On that fateful day no patrol squad accosted him brandishing an assault rifle and two grenades in civvies at Manila’s tourist district. In the aftermath, officials blamed each other for the bungling that partly caused the killing of eight tourists from Hong Kong. Busy finger pointing, all forgot to pin liability on Mendoza, from whose estate the victims could claim indemnity. For all that they must answer to the Filipino and Hong Kong people.

But Hong Kong jurists are totally wrong in adding another fault to the long litany — that Manila officials had ignored Mendoza’s demands. The criticism is cockeyed. Even the jurists, had anyone gone berserk in their isle, would not have given in to terroristic orders. Unless, of course, they are inviting more maniacs to strike.

In a hostaging, trained negotiators come in mainly to look after the needs and ensure the safety of victims. In the process, they gauge the situation on the ground and wear down the hostage-taker into releasing the captives unharmed. They may grant harmless wishes, like snacks or blankets if these jibe with the hostages’ wellbeing. Or for a concession, say, giving up weapons or elderly captives. But main demands always are disregarded, or delayed till breakpoint. Non-negotiable are three types. One, ransom. Two, dangerous, like Mendoza’s condition of rearming his alleged accomplice-brother, a suspended cop. Three, illegal, like reinstating him outright to the service, in spite of extortion cases.

The Hong Kong jurists know this. But they chose, like typical Philippine officials, to play to the gallery. It’s such behavior that makes Southeast Asians admire, by contrast, the Japanese. In the wake of Japan’s earthquake-tsunami-radiation whammies, two things stand out. There are no fake victims fighting for relief goods, no pols grandstanding about their supposed generosity.

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“Dark politics,” Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez shrieked the day after the House of Reps impeached her by a crushing vote of 212-46. She didn’t say, though, that her chief backer Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had visited her hours before in the cover of dark. It had to be scooped by the giant ABS-CBN News network.

Gutierrez’s lawyer was forced to admit the tryst, which they tried at first to deny. Too many neighbors had seen Arroyo arrive and enter Gutierrez’s house in Sta. Ana, Manila, at around 2 a.m. Wednesday. Security escort vans had caused a commotion out in the street. It was pointless to belie the event, so Gutierrez’s camp took to belittling it. “It’s hard to put meaning to a visit by a former President who is now a congresswoman,” the lawyer stammered.

Still the hypocrisy showed. If it’s the 212-majority impeaching her, Gutierrez cries partisanship and violation of due process. But if it’s her 46 voting out of loyalty, she calls it principled. And if the head of the 46 comes secretly to meet, it’s innocent. Unmentioned is Arroyo’s brazen buying of anti-impeachment congressional votes with P500,000 in gift bags, three years in a row as President. Forgotten is her withholding of pork barrel from the few stubborn oppositionists, in contrast to today’s 46 who got their pork and ate it too in voting for Gutierrez.

However Gutierrez’s camp obfuscates, the truth remains. People know that she has been playing blind to scams by Arroyo and minions — precisely why she was impeached. They remember that her lawyer also represents an Arroyo ally whom Gutierrez had refused to charge for a P1.3-billion anomaly.

Quoting a political analyst, ABS-CBN News notes that Arroyo’s dark visit is another nick to Gutierrez’s beaten image. (See www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03/23/11/did-gloria-arroyo-visit-merci-after-impeach-vote.) Public impression plays a big role in the political process of impeachment, Prof. Edmund Tayao said. It doesn’t help Gutierrez to be seen with the very personalities associated with her impeachable offenses.

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For the past five or so years, dozens of news reports have depicted assassins escaping invariably by “riding tandem on motorcycles.” The most recent was the killing of two aides of Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos, again by gunmen on a getaway motorbike. But judging from its silence, the National Police has not devised a strategy against the modus operandi.

For months a retired detective who survived such an ambush has been calling on the brass to act once and for all. Knowing the ins and outs of the force, Wally Sombero says that if they put their heads to it, intelligence and field units can neutralize guns-for-hire. Otherwise, politicians, retired police and military officers, and journalists will continue to be targets.

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